


The Return

by F1_rabbit



Series: Voyages of the Starship Estrella [6]
Category: Motorcycling RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 15:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14771913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F1_rabbit/pseuds/F1_rabbit
Summary: Marc returns to the ship from Starfleet, but there are some things still to be resolved, including the fact that he hasn't spoken to his best friend since they almost kissed...





	The Return

“Welcome back, Captain.”

“It’s good to be back, Commander Lorenzo.” Marc grinned, his relief clear for all to see, and he knew that it had been a long couple of weeks for everyone. “Thanks for taking such good care of the ship for me.”

“It was my honour.” Jorge nodded deeply, but Marc shook his head.

“The honour is all mine, I couldn’t ask for a better commander.” He rested his hand on Jorge’s shoulder, the emotions bubbling over, and he was glad when the whoosh of the door opening broke the tension.

“Marc!”

Alex ran over, Luca in tow, and Marc rushed towards him as though they hadn’t seen each other in months rather than weeks.

Alex wrapped him up in his long lanky arms, squeezing him so tight that Marc had to stand on the very tip of his toes just to keep his feet on the ground.

“I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too.” The pain in Alex’s voice made Marc feel even smaller, and he held Alex close, stroking his back until the rest of the crew started wandering into the shuttle bay. Stepping back, Marc gave Alex some space, knowing that Alex was desperate for people to see him as more than just the captain’s little brother.

“Is everything sorted with Starfleet?”

Marc had to look twice to see Dani in the crowd of people, he was one of the few people on the ship that was shorter than him, and it didn’t help that he was quiet by nature.

“Yes, Starfleet are happy with the official report, and the new alliance with the Ozzis means that our universal translator can now cope with their language without any more mishaps.” Marc resisted the urge to mime the air quotes, since everyone on the ship knew the truth.

There had been no misunderstanding, the Ozzis really had declared war on Starfleet, and taken Admiral Rossi hostage, but thankfully Marc’s diplomatic skills had forged an alliance and rescued the admiral before anything serious could happen.

Dani smiled, pushing his way through the crowd so that he could stand next to Jorge, and a faint blush crept on to his cheeks as their arms brushed.

Holding hands in public was way too big a display of affection for a Vulcan, but he seemed happy to be close to Dani.

“I’m glad that everything is resolved.”

“I’m sure Jorge playing captain has been cutting into your quality time together.” Marc gave Dani a nudge, and Jorge’s lips curled up at the corner, moving barely a millimetre, but to those who knew him it was a grin that could rival Marc’s.

“It will be nice to have some time to relax.” Jorge glanced at Dani, and Marc chuckled as he saw the sparks fly.

“Go, enjoy your time off, that’s an order.”

Marc had never seen Dani move so quickly without a siren sounding, and Jorge was following close behind, no doubt heading straight for Dani’s quarters since they were closer than Jorge’s.

The crew were gathering around him, everyone was happy to see him back, and they all made a point of telling him that Jorge had done an excellent job of managing the crew and the ship, but he couldn’t push the guilt away. It was his crew, his ship, and he should have been here for them.

By the time the crowd was thinning, it felt like all the crew had come to welcome him back to the ship, and he scanned the crowd of faces milling around the shuttle bay, but there was no sign of the one person that he really wanted to see.

“I should get back to work before Starfleet change their mind about reinstating me.”

The crew laughed along with Marc, and he made a point of leaving the shuttle bay in the direction of the bridge, but the second the door whooshed shut behind him he scurried in the opposite direction, heading towards the crew quarters.

*

Tapping his foot, Marc waited for Tito to answer the door, but after five minutes he assumed the worst.

Tito was ignoring him.

His fingers hovered over the comms badge, but if Tito didn’t want to talk to him then he would respect that, no matter how much pain it caused him.

He told himself that Tito was probably busy, the bridge crew would have had to work a little harder in his absence, but he couldn’t stop the worries from ganging up on him.

Marc wandered along to the bridge, his head hung low, and he wondered if the true cost of this whole mess would be losing his best friend.

*

Marc had forgotten how tiring it was to run a ship, after two weeks of nothing but long boring committee meetings it was a shock to the system, and he stifled a yawn as he looked at the data the ship had accrued while he was away.

It wasn’t going to be long before they left the quadrant, and then they would be on their own, too far away for Starfleet to come rushing to the rescue if they got into trouble.

He couldn’t wait.

This was what he had dreamed of since he signed up, having his own ship to play with, exploring the vast depths of the universe with his best friend by his side.

Frowning, Marc’s fingers hovered over his comms badge, but he thought better of it. There hadn’t been a day on this ship that he hadn’t seen Tito at least once, which meant that Tito had gone out of his way to avoid him.

He thought about going to the holodeck, doing something to take his mind off everything, but he checked the computer and saw that there was ‘maintenance in progress’.

Marc had got wise to Rins’ little scheme a few months ago, but he was a good crewmember, and no-one else ever complained, so who was he to stop him having a bit of fun with his boyfriend.

Tapping his fingers against his desk, he thought about going to see Alex, but he wasn’t sure what he would say to him. He had to talk to Tito, clear up what happened before.

The almost kiss.

Part of him was glad that Scotty had interrupted them, sparing him from feeling guilty about fraternising with a crewmember. But the other part of him was longing to know what it would feel like to kiss Tito, to wake up next to him in the morning, and to feel…

A knock on the door roused him out of his thoughts, and he had to think unsexy thoughts to make himself presentable so that he could answer it.

He expected it to be Jorge coming to debrief him on the events that he’d missed, or Alex checking up on him, but it was the one person that could render him speechless.

“Hi, I know you’re probably busy but…” Tito fidgeted on the spot, his normal smile absent, and Marc wanted nothing more than to see him smile again.

“No, I’m… come in.” Marc stood back, and Tito stepped in, the door whooshing shut behind him as they stood staring at each other, the tension building with each beat of his heart. “Do you want a drink?”

Tito nodded, his lips compressed as Marc scurried to pour two glasses of wine, before realising that he was on duty and pouring himself a glass of water.

Handing Tito the glass of wine, he cursed the fact that things were awkward between them.

“I’m sorry, I should have called you when I was back on Earth.” Marc stood across from Tito, the situation too tense for either of them to sit.

“It’s okay, I know you were busy.” Tito took a sip of his wine, it was a luxury that they had to savour, and Marc had brought a crate of it back to the ship just for Tito.

“I…” Marc felt the words stick in his throat, his mouth hanging open as Tito sat down his wine glass.

“You don’t have to say anything.” Tito rested his hand on Marc’s hip, gazing into his eyes as the sparks flew, and Marc felt his heart rate quicken, his eyes falling shut as he leant into Tito’s touch.

Licking his lips, Marc closed the gap, pressing his lips against Tito’s, the warmth arousing as he wrapped his hand around the back of Tito’s neck, pulling him down so that he could deepen the kiss.

He soaked up every last detail, the delicate brush of lips that made him feel loved, the way that Tito’s tongue teased him before giving him what he wanted and he was greedy for more.

Pleasure rippled through his body, it felt like every atom of his body was involved in this kiss, and he never wanted it to end.

And then a little voice in his mind told him that it was wrong for him to be romantically involved with a crewmember, crashing him back to reality with a thud.

He placed his hand over Tito’s heart, pushing him back as he felt the loss, but he had to do what was right, not what his heart wanted.

“I shouldn’t do this, it’s unprofessional of me to have a relationship with a crew member.” Marc hung his head, he couldn’t stand to see the disappointment and confusion that was written all over Tito’s face, and he wondered if he’d done the right thing.

“I respect your decision, Captain Marquez.”

Captain Marquez. Not Marc, not even just captain, but Captain Marquez. It was so formal, and it reminded him of the endless meetings back at Starfleet Command. Hearing the words from Tito’s lips now, when they were in private, made him feel like Tito had reached into his chest and pulled out his heart.

Tito turned to leave, and Marc wanted to say something, anything to try and explain that it wasn’t him that he didn’t want. But Tito was gone before he could get his mouth to work, the whoosh of the door taunting him as he slumped down on the floor, wondering how things had got so complicated.

*

Alex wondered if people knew when him and Luca were about to get intimate, and he let out a little groan as Luca kissed the end of his nose.

“You should get that, it’s probably Marc.”

Alex pouted, cuddling in closer to Luca as he pulled the blanket up over them.

“But I want to stay here with you.”

“I’ll be waiting for you.” Luca stuck his tongue out, giving Alex a playful nudge in the direction of the door, and Alex smiled as he rushed to pull on some clothes, hoping that whatever Marc needed wouldn’t take long.

Alex was grinning like a dork when he opened the door, but the sight of Tito looking deflated wiped the smile off his face, and he rushed in for a hug.

Tito slumped into his arms, and Alex pulled him into his quarters, waiting for the door to shut so that they could have some privacy.

“What’s happened?”

“Marc kissed me.”

“Woah.” Alex tried to keep the surprise off his face, he thought of Tito as another big brother, and the idea of him and Marc being together in that way wasn’t something he’d ever considered. But it made sense, the two of them had always been inseparable, and they would do anything to make each other happy.

“And then he told me that we can’t have a relationship because he’s captain.” Tito cuddled in against Alex’s shoulder, and Alex held him until he was ready to speak. “I thought that we had a chance, but I should have known that being captain is his number one priority.”

Alex took a breath, he wanted to say that it wasn’t true, but everyone who met Marc knew that it was his one true love, and being captain didn’t leave a lot of room for anything else in his life.

“I’m sorry.”

“I just wish things could be easy for us.”

“Marc doesn’t do anything the easy way.” Alex snorted in laughter, and Tito gave him a small smile, he knew that better than anyone.

“I never expected to feel this way about him, but it just kind of happened.”

“You two have always been close.”

“We have, even when we signed up, we knew that we wanted to be assigned to the same ship.” Tito smiled, and Alex could see Tito’s love for Marc shining out.

The sound of sheets rustling made Tito’s eyes go wide, and he looked over at the partition for the bedroom before pulling back.

“Sorry, I didn’t realise Luca was here, I’ll leave you two alone.”

Tito rushed to the door before Alex could blink, and he thought about going to try and talk some sense into Marc, but he knew that once Marc had made up his mind it was all but impossible to change it.

“What are you going to do now?” Luca leant against the partition, a sheet wrapped around his waist as he ruffled his hair back into position.

“They’re both grown ups, it’s not my place to do anything.”

“Like that’s going to stop you when it comes to Marc.” Luca pulled him closer, stroking his back as he let out a sigh. “So, what are you going to do about this?”

“Marc’s too stubborn to take advice from his baby brother, especially about his love life, but I think I know someone who might be able to convince him with rational logic.”

Luca grinned, and Alex tapped two fingers to his comms badge as he brushed away a stray eyelash from Luca’s cheek with his free hand.

“Commander Lorenzo, I need a favour.”

*

Marc was sure that he had asked the computer for privacy, but there was still someone knocking on his door, which meant that it was an emergency.

He took a breath, pulling himself together as he walked the twelve steps to the door, and he felt his heart sink when he saw Jorge standing there.

“Commander Lorenzo, what’s wrong?”

“There is a serious situation which needs to be resolved.”

“Come in.”

Marc didn’t want the crew spooked if things were bad, and he ushered Jorge to a seat as the door whooshed shut. Sliding into his seat he went into captain mode, focusing him on the task in hand.

“Computer, enable privacy mode.” Marc waited for the computer to beep to say that it had received his order before speaking.

“Are we under attack?”

“No.”

“Is a crewmember injured?”

“No.”

“Is the ship damaged?”

“No.”

Marc paused, tapping his foot as he wondered what else would be considered a serious situation that required his immediate attention.

“First contact?”

“No.”

Marc could have sworn that he saw Jorge roll his eyes, and he had to compress his lips from laughing out loud. Before he left, he had noticed Dani and Jorge copying more of each other’s mannerisms, and it was clear that their relationship was still going strong.

“Alex asked me to speak with you about Lieutenant Rabat.”

Marc exhaled, his relief visible, and then he realised that he was going to have to talk to Jorge about it all.

“We need to have a discussion about when to use the word serious.”

“If you are not focused on your duties then that is a serious situation.” Jorge sat eerily still, and Marc felt his leg jiggle, his whole body fidgeting with the unease that he felt deep down in his soul.

“This isn’t the first time that I’ve had my heart broken.”

“That is no surprise.” Jorge’s lips moved a couple of millimetres, and Marc wondered how he’d ended up being mocked by a Vulcan.

“I…” Marc paused, but he could tell that Jorge wasn’t done speaking.

“It is illogical to deny your feelings, captain or not, you are still human.”

“This from a man who has sex once every seven years.” Marc snorted in laughter, but Jorge just raised an eyebrow.

“I can assure you that my relationship with Dani is satisfying for me, and for him, on both a physical and emotional level.”

Marc rested his head in his hands, letting out a faint groan. The last thing that he wanted to talk about was Jorge’s sex life,

“I can’t date a crew member, it would be unprofessional.”

“We are about to leave the quadrant for five years, and I can assure you that there will be many relationships on board during that time.”

“But none of them are captain of this ship, they don’t have to be impartial.”

“By that same logic, Alex should not be a crew member of this ship because he is your brother, and Luca should not be in Starfleet because he is the admiral's brother.”

“That’s different.”

“Is it?” Jorge raised an eyebrow, and Marc wanted to shave them off in his sleep so that he couldn’t make him feel inferior with it.

Dani wandered into his quarters as though they were his own, clearly he’d used his medical emergency override to get through the lock, and Marc knew that Jorge must have been worried if he asked Dani to come and check on him too.

“What have I missed?” Dani made himself comfy next to Jorge, his arm resting next to Jorge’s, which for them was a grand public gesture of physical affection.

“We were just talking about your sex life.” Marc raised his eyebrows, wiggling them as Dani glared at Jorge, his face moving as though they were talking telepathically.

“It’s not my love life that you should be worried about.”

Marc’s mouth hung open, he’d suspected that Dani and Jorge had some sort of telepathic link, ever since Jorge’s pon farr had taken hold while they were away from Starfleet, and Dani had been the one to sate his blood fever.

Dani smiled, and Marc was tempted to sound the emergency siren just to get the two of them out of his quarters.

“You two are sickening together.”

“Are you not feeling well?” Jorge glanced at Dani, sparking another wordless conversation that made Dani look like he had a nervous tick.

Marc coughed, and Dani looked apologetic, but it was clear that Jorge was still telepathically talking to him.

“It’s…” Dani shook his head, and Marc was sure that he would end up having to explain the expression to Jorge later.

Marc took a deep breath, and he felt the exhaustion of the day catching up with him.

“Thank you both for your concern, but I am fit to carry out my duties as captain.”

Dani sat back in his seat, and from the way he hesitated before speaking, Marc knew that he wasn’t going to like what Dani had to say.

“It’s obvious that you and Tito have something between you, are you really going to pretend those feelings don’t exist?”

“It would be unprofessional of me to date a crewmember.” Marc was starting to feel like an android, repeating the same pre-programmed lines over and over again, each time sounding less convincing.

“Half the crew think that you’re dating already.”

Marc nodded, the words slowly filtering through the noise in his mind, and his eyes went wide when he realised what Dani said. “What?”

“It is true, Captain, the crew have noticed your close relationship with Lieutenant Rabat and assumed that the two of you have a romantic relationship.”

“How did I not know about that?” Marc prided himself on knowing everything that was happening on his ship, including all the rumours and gossip.

“Because they talk about it when you are not in the room.”

Dani glared at Jorge, but that didn’t change the fact that what he was saying was the truth.

“If everyone thinks that we’re dating, why am I torturing myself about this?”

“Because you can’t do anything the easy way.” Dani raised an eyebrow, and he looked so much like Jorge that Marc had to stifle a laugh.

But then the realisation that everything that Dani and Jorge had said was true came crashing home, the sadness washing through him as he slumped back in his chair.

“I’ve messed everything up.”

“This is not the first time that you have messed things up, but you always put it right in the end.” Jorge’s words made Marc feel like he had the power to read his mind. It had been a long time since he’d felt unsure, even when he made difficult decisions, he was always certain of them.

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Go make things right with Tito.” Dani pointed to the door as though Marc had somehow forgotten that it existed, and Marc felt his heart rate rise at the thought of talking to Tito.

“I…”

“Go,” Jorge and Dani said in unison, both of them smiling, and Marc shook his head.

They were the last two people that he’d ever expected to be getting relationship advice from, and the annoying thing was that they were right.

They always were.

*

Marc wandered through the ship’s corridors, his feet torn between running to Tito and running away.

He had hurt his friend, hurt himself, and he wasn’t sure that sorry was going to cut it. Words seemed inadequate to express how he felt, how he treasured every second that they got together, and the years of memories that they shared.

Standing outside Tito’s door he felt like a teenager again, sneaking up to Tito’s room so that they could play videogames. But this time he wasn’t sure that Tito would want to spend time with him.

Marc didn’t have to say a word when Tito answered the door, he just followed him in, waiting until the door whooshed shut behind him.

Tito’s smile was kind and gentle, and Marc felt unworthy of such love and affection. If he was in Tito’s position he’d still be angry, but that was what made Tito such a great guy, he didn’t hold grudges.

The air circulation pumps whirred in the background, emphasising the silence, and Marc knew that he had to say something just to break the tension.

“We need to talk.”

“We do.” Tito went to hold his hand, before changing his mind half way and letting his arm hang by his side.

“I’m sorry, about before.” Marc hung his head, but Tito reached out to tilt his head up, making him blush as he met Tito’s gaze. “I wish I wasn’t so stubborn.”

“It’s your best and your worst trait.”

Marc snorted in laughter, nuzzling against Tito’s hand as he stroked his cheek.

“I know everything is complicated, but that doesn’t change how I feel about you.” Tito moved closer, the tension cranked up to maximum as Tito’s bright blue eyes stared into his soul. “I will always be your best friend, but if you wanted something more, I’d do anything to make it work.”

Marc’s heart fluttered, and he rested his hands on Tito’s waist, pulling him closer, the warmth of his touch dizzying as he licked his lips.

“That kiss was amazing.”

Tito’s smile shone out, and he leant in closer so that he could whisper, “There’s more where that came from.”

Marc held his breath, his eyes falling shut as Tito took control, guiding their lips together. The first touch was electric, Tito’s lips so soft and warm pressed against his own, and he was greedy for more, kissing until they were breathless.

“I love you.”

Grinning like a teenager in love, Marc wondered how those three little words could feel so different to all the other times that he’d said them to Tito, but he knew now that he loved Tito with all of his mind, body and soul.

“I love you too.”

“I think the crew can take care of the ship without me for one more night.” Marc bit at his lip, blushing as he fluttered his eyelashes.

“More kisses?” Tito’s grin was a beautiful sight, his love shining out as Marc stood on his tiptoes for another kiss.

“More kisses.”

**Author's Note:**

> Coming up next: The story of how Marc ended up joining Starfleet!
> 
> *and obviously none of this actually happened, it is all a figment of my twisted imagination ;)


End file.
